Used
by Twin Kats
Summary: Roxas merges back with Sora; Axel doesn't like that. So he decides to act, and now the destiny of one Keyblade Master changes. / He'd have to watch his steps more carefully from now on; / AU / Yaoi / AkuSor/AkuRoku / Mild Lang. / SEE Just Use Me
1. Turning Point

_**Summary: **__Roxas merges back with Sora, but Axel doesn't like that. So he decides to act, and unwittingly changes the entire destiny of one Keyblade Master. // 'Roxas is everything. There is no purpose without him.'_ _// AU // Yaoi // AkuSor/AkuRoku // Mild Lang. //_

_**Used  
Turning Point**_

_"Let's meet again, in the next life."_

_"Yeah. I'll be waiting."_

Axel sighed softly. It had only been five minutes since Roxas kicked his ass but he couldn't get the words out of his head.

_"I'll be waiting."_

Roxas wasn't here anymore, the red head had tried to tell himself but it just didn't work. He wouldn't accept it. He couldn't.

Which led Axel to his current predicament, standing before Sora's pod that Naminé built for him to sleep in, his thoughts warring about what to do.

_'I shouldn't kidnap him,'_ one side of Axel said. _'He needs to defeat the Organization. He has a life.'_

_'Didn't Roxas have a life too?'_ the other side would reply. _'Wasn't Roxas needed too? And Roxas left. Roxas gave it up. Why should his Somebody be any different?'_

_'But he's the Keyblade Master! He has companions!'_

_'Roxas had companions as well.'_

_'Roxas ran away.'_

_'Roxas is everything. There is no purpose without him.'_

_'But...'_

And Axel sighed, closing his eyes, before opening them determindedly.

"It won't matter if I take him; they don't know he's here," he uttered, and with hit the release switch, opening the pod a tad prematurely than normal but it didn't matter. He would be waking up soon either way since Roxas merged with him now.

As the pod opened Axel laid his eyes on Sora for the first time in a year. The small runt sure had grown in that span, he mused. _'He'll need knew clothes while I'm at it,'_ he added, taking in the now fifteen year old's atrociously short clothing.

"Better move before the King's lackey's get here," Axel muttered, leaping up into the now open pod and carefully picking up the still sleeping teen. He jumped out, hit the switch to close the pod again, and then disappeared.

He was lucky; if he had waited any later Donald and Goofy would've arrived.

And so the divergence in Sora's destiny started; Axel wouldn't know what he caused until it happened.

Then again neither parties would mind in the end.

* * *

Sora yawned, stretching heavy limbs. He felt so lethargic it wasn't even funny.

_'How long have I been sleeping?'_ he asked himself mentally as he slowly opened his eyes. _'Where am I?'_ he thought, shooting up and looking around the room.

It was a plain room; nothing was really there besides a couch, some chairs, a small table, and a bookshelf in the corner. It was elaborately colored either. The walls were a simple red, the couch was leather and black, the chairs varried, and the table and bookshelf were made of plain wood.

The room was simple, and Sora most likely wouldn't have minded if he _knew where he was!_

"You're awake?" some called from behind and Sora whirled around, surprised to see a red headed man stepping through a archway that obviously led to the kitchen. He had a can of beer hanging from his glove encased fingers. His hair was a verifiable mess yet fashionable at the same time. He had two lines under his eyes, like tattoo's; his eyes were a brilliant shade of green also. A simple black tee-shirt and jeans were also on his person.

"Who are you?" Sora demanded.

"Damn you sure slept a while," the red head blinked. "I thought you would've woken up the minute we got here. I guess I underestimated that little witch..." he trailed off before saying with a slight grin. "The name's Axel; A X E L, got it memorized?"

"Axel?" Sora frowned. The name was familiar, oddly enough, but Sora didn't remember meeting anyone quite like this man before him.

"Yeah, you brain dead or somethin'?" Axel questioned with a raised eyebrow. He calmly sat down in one of the chairs and popped open the can.

"I'm not brain dead!" Sora snapped.

"Whoa...cool it; I was just jokin'," Axel stated, shaking his head.

"Where am I?" Sora demanded.

"My flat. You thirsty?" Axel replied, taking a sip of his beer.

Sora blinked at the reply, but realize he _was_ kind of thirsty.

"Y-Yeah..." the teen muttered. "I am."

"'Kay. I'll be right back," Axel said, standing and walking back through the archway. "Don't try standin' just yet, Sora!" he called over his shoulder. "You're still a little weak from sleepin' so much."

"Sleeping?" Sora frowned.

"Yeah," Axel called from the other room. "I don't know what happened exactly but this little witch put you asleep for a year; she and I were aquaintances around then. Of course she disappeared suddenly and you were lost, asleep, for some time until I got a message tellin' me where you were. I got you out of there and back here. Figured the least I could do was help you recover since I knew the witch that did this and all." By the time Axel finished his speech he reappeared with a can of soda which he handed to Sora who took it wordlessly.

"My friends?" Sora asked after a moment of silence.

"Friends?" Axel quierred with a frown.

"Um...Donald, Goofy?" Sora prompted and Axel shrugged.

"Don't know 'em," he replied calmly, "but if they're your friends then they're lookin' for you, right?"

"R-Right..." Sora trailed off and began to drink his soda in silence.

"You don't seem so sure," Axel said, frowning.

"It's just...you said I was asleep, right?" Sora asked. "Placed that way by a...witch?"

"Yeah?"

"What if she did that to Donald and Goofy? What if they're not awake?" _'What if she got Riku and Kairi...?'_

Axel chuckled slightly and shook his head.

"The spells only good for one year," he said. "If she's still around she might've put them asleep again, but I don't think she is."

"Oh..."

"Look, when you're better, maybe we could go out lookin' for 'em, 'kay?" Axel said calmly.

"You'd really--"

"When you're better," Axel firmly said. "You're not really in a condition to fight anythin', kid. Besides, there's more out there than Heartless now."

"More?" Sora demanded, raising his head sharply. "You mean the Heartless are still around?"

Axel stared at the brunette, eyes a mixture of solemnity and seriousness as he said, "They never left."

And with that Sora felt his world come crashing down.

* * *

Axel talked to Sora for a little while longer before pointing out how small his clothes had gotten and then asking what types of clothes he'd like to wear so that he knew what to get Sora. He then left the flat while making Sora promise not to try and leave on the bounds that he was still recovering.

Which brought Axel to now, shopping through the clothing store for anything that fit the brunette's tastes and size, and thinking about the entire conversation he had, had just before coming here.

_'I can't believe he bought that bullshit,'_ Axel scowled. _'Although some of it is partially true...'_ he conceded to himself. _'How else can you make the best lie without a grain of truth? Now my only issue is keeping him here. He'll be healed enough to battle the lesser Nobodies soon and then he'll want to search for his 'friends,'_ here Axel snorted lightly, _'and that can't do. The Organization might catch up with me._'

That brought another topic to Axel's mind. While the Heartless were still around in abundence, they were considerbly less of a problem before. However the Nobodies had grown in numbers quickly this past year and Sora didn't even know of their existence! Plus Organization XIII will be out for his blood considering he didn't report back; at least they'd bring him alive, at most they'd kill him, but it all depended on if they labeled him a 'traitor' yet or not.

_'That kid won't stand up to the Organization as he is too,'_ Axel noted. _'And they __**will**__ find me. There's no if about it, only when, and by that time I have to have the Keyblade Master trained up enough to survive and run. I __**won't**__ be losing this one. Not this time. He's Roxas as much as Sora, and I'm not letting him go ever again. I made that mistake once.'_

The red head's lips twisted into a small sneer/snarl mix as he thought about what happened with Roxas.

_'No. I'm not letting him go. Never,'_ Axel thought fiercely, grabbing the clothes that fit Sora's description and size and making his way to pay for them.

He wouldn't let Sora slip through his grasp like he did Roxas. He wouldn't.

No matter what.

* * *

end chapter

_**ONWARDS TO THE AUTHORS NOTE!**_

_This is the second challenge I took from __**Inumaru12**__. It appealed to my AkuSor obsession. Yes, I have an AkuSor obsession. It's not common. AkuRoku is common, and I love AkuRoku, but I also love odd and semi-rare to rare pairings too!_

_So, I decided to take up this challenge as well and just finished chapter one so here it is._

_Now...I believe some explanations are due about how I will be updating/how the summaries work for those of you who aren't old followers/following other fictions of mine._

_This was actually brought to my attention by __**Inumaru12**__ so thank you!_

_Updates are not a for sure, timed, thing. Rather I tend to get little "bursts" of inspiration that help me spit out four, five, or more chapters at a time. In the past I would post a chapter the minute it was finished and edited. This led to a problem._

_I would post four/five chapters in one day/one week, but then the inspiration would die and my story would lay for six months or longer. It looked like I ditched the story when I didn't._

_So I came up with this system for when I have these "bursts"_

_If I end up writing more than one chapter during a week period from whenever I posted the last chapter, the next chapter will be posted __**exactly**__ one week from the previous chapter. So, for __**Unexpected**__ for example (which I have finished chapter two) I won't be posting chapter two until __**Saturday**__ of next week. This system helps me regulate when chapters get posted when I have these "bursts" and also enables me to at least get reviews for a chapter._

_Now onto my __**summaries**__._

_As some may have noticed there is a line in the summary that came directly from the chapter. This is something I do on rare stories that actually have a short enough summary to include a quote. A good example is __**Strength of the Heart**__._

_Each quote is from the latest chapter posted and is the only part of the summary that changes as it is not part of the __**main**__ summary. The __**main**__ summary is first, followed by the quote, followed by warnings/need to know things._

_**Finally**__ if I post a chapter, but haven't designated __**in**__**that chapter**__ if I have the __**next chapter finished**__ (where I'll state the date on which it will be posted) __**look at my profile**__. I post __**updates**__ on my stories __**regularly**__. It's organized in a fairly simple manner. You just have to click the section name at the top and it jumps down to that section. It does work. I've tested it._

_That's it!_

_TK  
Twin Kats_


	2. Well This Isn't Good

_**Summary: **__Roxas merges back with Sora; Axel doesn't like that. So he decides to act, and now the destiny of one Keyblade Master changes. // "This isn't good," Mickey mumbled before shaking his head._ _// AU // Yaoi // AkuSor/AkuRoku // Mild Lang. //_

_**Used  
Well...This Isn't Good**_

Donald was the first to wake, the pod he was in snapping open at almost the exact same time his eyes snapped open. With a wide yawn he jumped down and turned, spotting Goofy still asleep within the next pod.

"Goofy!" Donald yelled. "Wake up! GOOFY!"

With a hiss and a snap the pod opened and Goofy tiredly made his way out, yawning.

"Gwarsh Donald, no need to yell," Goofy said.

"Yeah, yeah," Donald mumbled, tapping his foot impatiently. "Where's Sora?" he asked after a minute.

"Dunno," Goofy replied. "Maybe we should look around?"

"Sure," Donald agreed and they started off.

It took fifteen minutes before the two finally gave up.

"He's not here," Donald growled.

"Well maybe he woke up before us an--" Goofy started but Donald shook his head.

"No!" Donald snapped, paused, and then amended, "Alright, maybe he did. But it'd be really irresponsible of him!"

"Why?" Goofy frowned. "It's not like he ran away or somethin'."

Donald sighed, shook his head, before saying, "C'mon Goofy; let's go look around town. Maybe Sora's there."

* * *

"Sora! Sora!" Donald and Goofy were calling. There had been no sign of Sora this entire time. They'd even enlisted the help of three teenagers, Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Dude, I don't think your friend is here," Pence said after they'd checked by the sandlot for the fifth time.

"He has to be!" Donald snapped. "Sora wouldn't run off without us!"

"With the way you're yelling I wouldn't be so sure," Hayner mumbled.

"What was that?!"

"Hayner!" Olette reprimanded.

"Calm down Donald; maybe Pence's right!" Goofy stated, placing a restraining hand on Donald's shoulder. "Sora coulda wandered off."

"He's not that stupid!" Donald counteracted.

"Gwarsh Donald, we've looked everywhere!" Goofy sighed. "He's not here!"

"Grr!"

"Look, I'm sorry about your friend, alright?" Hayner interrupted. "He's obviously not in town. Maybe he's at the beach or something."

"That's right!" Olette grinned, slamming a fist into her palm. "Maybe your friend went to the beach! It's the last day of break after all."

"Yeah!" Pence inputted. "Why don't you head to the station? There should be a train heading there sometime soon."

"Hmph." Donald turned and stalked off in the direction of the station, arms crossed.

"Thanks guys," Goofy said, and waved in parting before racing after Donald. "Donald! Wait up!"

* * *

Mickey watched from the shadows as his friends arrived at the station, a visible frown crossing his face.

_'Where's Sora?'_ he thought, staying in the shadows for another five minutes, thinking that maybe the brunette was lagging behind.

When Sora didn't show Mickey decided to question Donald and Goofy on the matter. Surely they knew where Sora was.

* * *

"Your majesty!" Donald cried, eyes lighting up as Mickey jumped down in front of him and Goofy.

"Your highness!"

"Shh!" Mickey hissed, shaking his head. "Not now, guys." Donald and Goofy silenced. "Where's Sora?" Mickey asked, once he was sure he had the two's attention.

"He's missing," Donald growled.

"We were told me mighta went to the beach, hyuk," Goofy said.

Mickey frowned and said, "Impossible. He was in the basement asleep."

"No one was there besides us!" Donald stated.

"Are you sure?" Mickey pressed. "He wasn't in the basement? At all? You checked everywhere?"

"We sure did!" Goofy nodded.

"This isn't good," Mickey mumbled before shaking his head. "Well you'll have to go looking for Sora. Someone must've taken him while he was asleep."

"Taken him?!" Donald and Goofy cried.

"It's the only explanation," Mickey stated. "Take the train and go to Master Yen Sid. He'll help brief you on the current situation and maybe have an idea as to who took Sora. I have my own guesses but...I'd have to check. Now go!"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Axel stepped back into the flat with a sigh, running his hand through his spiked hair in slight annoyance.

"Damn women," he muttered under his breath, walking into the living room. Sora was sitting on the couch staring at a book Axel had tossed at him before he left in boredom.

"Oi! Here!" Axel called, tossing the bag at Sora. The brunette caught it in surprise. "Clothes," Axel said simply.

"T-Thanks..." Sora mumbled.

"You can change through there," Axel pointed to a door. "That's the guest room. You'll be staying there as well until you're better."

Sora nodded his head and shakily got to his feet.

"Feel free to use the walls until you're more steady," Axel told him before turning around towards the kitchen, mumbling, "I need another beer. Damn women," under his breath.

Sora just blinked at Axel's back before shrugging and unsteadily making his way towards the door the red head had indicated earlier. When he entered the room he wasn't all that surprised to see it done in the same colors as the living room. Shrugging Sora shut the door behind him and moved over towards the bed; he overturned the bag upon the dark sheets and stared at all the clothes there.

"He didn't have to get this much..." the teen mumbled before shaking his head. "I'll pay him back."

With that in mind Sora began to pick out from the pile what he wanted to wear.

Of course he didn't expect another red head to slide open the window and jump down into the room just as he was about to pull on his boxers.

Shocked, Sora did what most people would do in that situation.

He let out a yell of surprise.

* * *

Axel had just grabbed a beer from the fridge when he heard a yell come from the guest room. Cursing he dropped the can and ran across the kitchen and living room, shoving open the door and promptly freezing at the sight of a familiar figure waving his hands frantically in an 'I come in peace!' gesture.

"What. The. Fuck?" Axel said and the man promptly froze, turned, and grinned.

"Bro!"

"Reno?"

"Who else?" Reno asked, moving to sling an arm around Axel's shoulder.

Axel punched Reno in the face in response.

"That's for sneaking into the guest bedroom," Axel growled as Reno held his nose.

"You didn't have to hit so hard, yo!" Reno mumbled. "Ouch."

"A--" Sora started but Axel interrupted.

"Reno, living room," Axel snapped before turning to Sora. "Sora, sorry. I'll...leave you to get dressed."

Axel turned on heel, grabbing Reno's ponytail as he did so and dragging the older man out of the room.

"Ow! Damn it Ale let go! That fuckin' hurts man! OW!"

"SHUT UP!"

The guest room door slid shut, leaving Sora to stare at it in shock.

* * *

"Where have you been, bro?" Reno asked after Axel shoved him into the couch, went back and grabbed his previous dropped beer, and sat down on a chair nearby.

"Around," Axel replied with a scowl.

"Well Tseng wants ta see ya, yo," Reno shrugged. "Laney said she saw ya in the store."

"Blonde bitch," Axel grumbled under his breath at the mention of Elena before saying, "Don't you mean the crazy blonde wants to see me?"

"Err...I don't think Rufus would like ta here ya call him that, yo," Reno mumbled.

"Reno, I fuckin' don't care," Axel said, gritting his teeth. "Hell, I would be happy not to see your face!"

"Oi! Is that any way to speak to the person who practically raised you after ma died giving birth?!" Reno demanded.

"You're the one who named me after your favorite damn drink!" Axel growled.

"What? Ale's a perfectly good name!" Reno defended.

"Sure it is," Axel mumbled.

"So where ya been?"

"Around."

"Damn it Ale just answer the fuckin' question, yo!"

"I've been busy!"

"That don't matter to Rufus! 'Specially not after ya up and disappeared, yo! And who's the kid?"

"Someone I'm taking care of!"

"You never took care of nobody before."

"Reno, leave!" Axel snapped.

"Can't! I got orders!" Reno practically sang.

"GET OUT OF MY FUCKING FLAT BEFORE I LIGHT YOUR GODDAMN HAIR ON FIRE!!!!"

"Shit! Alright! I'm leaving! Don't blame me when Tseng comes by though, yo!"

"GET OUT!!!!"

"Bye lil' bro!"

"FUCK YOU!"

"Axel...?"

Axel turned his green eyes towards Sora and sighed. Now how was he going to explain this...?

* * *

end chapter.

_**ONTO THE AUTHORS NOTE!**_

___I know this chapter doesn't really make any sense, and trust me I don't really know how to explain it either, however chapter three will hopefully clear up the mud that this chapter has created. Now I'd like to go on with this note._

_First off I want to thank __**all**__ my reviewers...all __**four**__ of my reviewers. You have increased my lifespan a bit._

_Those who didn't review...those __**three**__ of you who alerted yet didn't review...you have decreased my lifespan a bit._

_Think on that._

_So, I would like to thank my lovely challenger __**Inumaru12**__. I loved your review and am glad to find another fanatic for this pairing. I would like to thank __**Hikari Kaiya**__ for the nice praise and __**Jayrin Paige**__. Yes, AkuSor is uncommon; I wish it were loved more._

_The final addressing I have for this chapter is to my most recent reviewer. __**Mizukithepanda**__._

_First off, unique name and thank you for the nice start at the review._

_Second off, I __**know**__ about everything you said, and frankly I dislike the way you said it._

_By saying "I feel I should warn you..." you imply that I don't know __**shit**__ about Kingdom Hearts II. I do know about Kingdom Hearts II. I own the fucking game. I've played the fucking game. In fact my AkuSor obsession GREW from the fact that I just passed the point where Axel dies and have now reached Never Was._

_So I __**know**__ Axel's mannerisms on using "Got it memorized" and I __**know**__ Sora's quite a bit naive, slow, slightly gullible, and curious but not to the extent that it's damning for his character. I __**know**__ Sora is more observant than a lot of people give him credit for, that's he's smarter than most people say, however I'd like to point something out._

_The summary says this is __**AU**__ meaning everything you __**know**__ everything you __**believe**__ about Kingdom Hearts II...you can shove it out the window. Nothing will be exactly like the game._

_This doesn't mean that Sora's a dumb little shit. Quite the opposite in fact; he's very observant otherwise this fanfic wouldn't work with the directions __**Inumaru12**__ had given. I would like to say though that Sora had been sleeping __**for one year**__ and that __**he just woke up**__._

_The key words there: __**he just woke up**__ meaning his mental faculties aren't going to be at 100 percent right now._

_Also, while Axel was spouting lies they weren't complete lies either._

_Axel did know Naminé; Naminé is considered a witch; Naminé did put Sora and co to sleep; Naminé did disappear; Axel doesn't know Donald and Goofy--he knows __**of**__ them but he doesn't __**know**__ them--and Axel did learn where Sora was sleeping through a "friend"_

_Our favorite fiery Nobody just left out a lot of details, however he kept the key information._

_Now, when Sora's more awake, and not shaking off the effects of sleeping for one year (which I must say it's odd that Sora wasn't feeling anything like muscle atrophy from his year long sleep however I suppose the pod he was in counteracted that) he may pick up on the lack of details Axel seems to dish out._

_There's a "he may pick up" there. So it's not 100 percent that he'll realize Axel's lying right off the bat. He'll notice things, but it won't be glaringly obvious to Sora like it shall be to us writers/readers __**because**__ we saw Axel before Sora did, we know Axel unlike Sora who has __**forgotten ever meeting**__ Axel since Sora has __**forgotten Castle Oblivion**__._

_Now, I know this might seem a tad harsh response to your review, however the way you worded the main body of your review tee'd me off. A lot. It seemed very combative to me, and I would've sent you a private response however you weren't signed in, or don't have a FFN account and didn't leave an e-mail so a chance at a more personal and less public response was cut off._

_Thank you though for the review, I did enjoy the beginning and end of it, even though the middle sections annoyed me._

_That's all I believe I have to say for this chapter. __**Review please, it increased the author's lifespan.**_

_**For every reader who doesn't review an author loses lifespan.  
**__  
TK  
Twin Kats_


	3. To Dodge A Bullet

_**Summary: **__Roxas merges back with Sora; Axel doesn't like that. So he decides to act, and now the destiny of one Keyblade Master changes. /_ _He'd have to watch his steps more carefully from now on; the brunette was definitely more observant than he appeared. / AU / Yaoi / AkuSor/AkuRoku / Mild Lang. /  
_

_**Used  
To Dodge A Bullet**_

_"Axel...?"_

__

Axel turned his green eyes towards Sora and sighed. Now how was he going to explain this...?

* * *

"Who was that?" Sora asked with a frown. "Why did he call you Ale?"

Here Axel closed his eyes and held one gloved hand over his face for a second. Finally he said, "Sit down. This is going to take some time, and you still aren't strong enough to be standing for more than a few minutes."

Still frowning Sora complied and waited for Axel to speak.

"Almost two years ago I was attacked here by Heartless," Axel said, pulling his hand away from his face. "At the time I didn't know what the little bugger's were, or where they had come from. I figured they were mako rejects or something-it tends to happen here a lot...I'll explain mako later," Axel added upon seeing Sora's questioning gaze. "Anyway, long story short I blacked out not long afterward and woke up outside this old mansion. It wasn't until I was found by Zexion that I learned it was another world called Twilight Town.

You see I never thought there were other worlds or shit until Zexion found me and explained everything-the Heartless, other worlds...everything. Before all this I was just Ale, in the service of Rufus Shinra along with my older brother Reno. However once I learned I was on another world I figured what the hell, I deserved a new start, and I hated the name Ale anyway. So I took going by Axel.

Zexion introduced me to his...companions and I ended up working for them for a while. It was through Zexion that I met the little witch who knocked you out, and it wasn't until several months after Zexion died and the witch put you asleep that I decided hanging out with Zexion's companions wasn't worth it. Two months later I get wind of where you are, pick you up, and end up deciding the best place to stay was at home; at least here there are things I can get to help you get all trained up to survive whatever will pop up next," Axel finished, green eyes trained on Sora.

"Trained up?" Sora questioned and Axel sighed.

"There's more than just Heartless out there now, Sora," the red head uttered. "When the Heartless existed another being was created to counterbalance them-Nobodies. Nobodies however were never supposed to exist, just as Heartless were never supposed to show up in such numbers, but things rarely go as they were supposed to."

Sora blinked and tilted his head. "What's a Nobody, Axel?" he asked softly.

"The body and soul of a person whose Heart was taken by the Heartless," Axel muttered. "They're what's left, basically. Beings who have memories of emotions but can't feel them themselves as they don't have a Heart anymore."

"Oh..."

"Sora I won't sugarcoat anything," Axel said plainly. "There are things going on out there that aren't good. Things really haven't been good since all the Keyblader's originally died out, and Kingdom Hearts was summoned into existence, thus bringing the Heartless and eventually the Nobodies, but things are especially worse lately with the formation of a group of Nobodies who are _stronger_, _better_, _faster_, and _smarter_ than others. These Nobodies have a human face, a human shape, and emulate human emotions but they _aren't_, got it memorized?"

"Yeah," Sora gulped.

Axel nodded in acceptance. "Good; it'll save your life. These Nobodies call themselves Organization XIII. Formerly they had XIII members, however several have died over the past year." Axel turned his head away slightly and mumbled, "Most of them faded thanks to you..."

"Me?" Sora demanded and Axel shook his head sharply, wanting to so desperately curse himself for that slip up. "I've never met a Nobody!"

Instead of cursing himself Axel decided it was better to show his surprise at those words. He was sure that his words would've jogged some sort of familiar feeling which was why he wanted to curse himself in the first place.

"You don't remember?" Axel frowned. "Guess the little witch did more than put you asleep..." he trailed off at that.

"What? Someone's messed around with my memories?" Sora demanded sharply.

"Well yeah...I kinda figured that bit 'cause we've met...briefly," Axel shrugged before narrowing his eyes, "I just didn't realize it must've gone this far..."

Sora stilled and Axel mentally gave a sigh of relief.

_'Crisis diverted_.'

"Wait, we've met?"

_'Aw shit...maybe not.'_

_

* * *

_

"Yo! Tseng!" Reno called out, stepping into Healin Lodge.

"What now, Reno?" Tseng groaned.

"Seems like Laney was right," Reno grinned. "Ale's back, yo."

"Really?" Tseng's head jerked up.

"Yup. I just visited his ol' flat and there he was!" Reno chuckled slightly. "Kinda funny 'cause he has this kid there, yo."

"Why didn't you bring him here?" Tseng demanded and Reno rubbed the back of his head.

"Ah well...I figured he was busy with that kid an' all...I mean the poor boy _did_ look a tad under the weather, yo..."

"He kicked you out upon threat of torching your hair, didn't he," Tseng drawled.

"Yeah..."

"Thought so."

"Tseng? Reno?"

"Boss!" Reno jerked towards Rufus who stood in the doorway.

"Sir," Tseng nodded respectfully.

"Did I just hear something about Ale?" Rufus frowned.

"Um yeah," Reno nodded. "He's home, yo."

"Ah. Who will you be sending, Tseng, since Reno obviously failed in dragging him here?" Rufus raised an eyebrow questioningly at Tseng while Reno let out a cry of shock.

"Hey I didn't-!"

"I'm thinking of Elena and Shuriken," Tseng said after a minute. "Ale hates Elena, and Shuriken scares the shit out of him."

Rufus nodded in agreement.

"Good choice. I'll leave that to you then," he turned to leave but paused, turning back around to face Reno and say, "Oh, Reno, I need someone to...escort me to the WRO update with Reeve."

"I'm on it," Reno grinned.

"Good. Eight o'clock, got it?"

"Yes sir!"

"Please plan your sexual escapades elsewhere..." Tseng moaned.

"Why Tseng, whatever are you talking about?" Rufus quarried before leaving the room, chuckling softly.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Sora said slowly. "We met once or twice when this witch was using her powers to mess around with my memories because some of...Zexion's was it?" Axel nodded. "Because some of Zexion's friends decided that they wanted their own personal slave." Axel nodded again. "You were there trying to undermine them secretly and it was under their order's that we met, but when we met we were enemies." Again a nod. "So, as things further went on this witch replaced my memories of Kairi with memories of her, and messed up my feelings so that I liked her."

"Exactly," Axel nodded.

Sora was frowning slightly as he continued, "Once you were able to finally undermine the group I had already pretty much lost who I was, and the witch was forced to put me to sleep by someone named DiZ who swept in and decided to place her under his control."

"Yes."

"On DiZ's order's the witch proceeded to once again rearrange my memories back to their original order, but erased my memories of the entire encounter beforehand at the same time." Axel gave another crisp nod. "Also during this time I had run into a few members of Organization XIII who tried to use my messed up state against me but I ended up defeating them instead." Another nod. "You finally got the note of where the witch and DiZ were keeping me not too long ago and proceeded to break me out-earlier than I was supposed to be awoken-which is the cause of my current weakness."

"That's correct," Axel agreed.

"When you got me DiZ and the witch were gone; your guess is they got attacked since the place you found me in was in shambles," Sora finished and Axel gave him another nod in agreement.

The brunette frowned, tilting his head in Axel's direction, trying to figure out just what was going on through the convoluted story the red head told him.

_'He didn't explain everything,'_ Sora immediately noted, considering several of the facts didn't seem to fit right. _'He's keeping something to himself.'_

"You okay?" Axel asked hesitantly and Sora closed his eyes.

"Fine," the brunette mumbled. "Just a bit tired."

A frown tugged at Axel's lips but he nodded, "It's expected I guess. The guest room is yours; can you walk there okay?"

"Yes," Sora replied and stood up. He grasped the couch as a stabilizer and slowly made his way across the room and into the guest room.

_'Since I'm weak right now,'_ the brunette decided, _'I'll have to stick with Axel. It'll give me time to try and figure out what he's hiding and what he wants with me.'_

Sora knew from Axel's tale that the red head wanted something from him, he was under no illusions that this was purely a good Samaritan deed. He may act naive and childish, but that didn't mean he was an idiot. He didn't bother to correct those that thought him an idiot either though; it made it easier to be overlooked which suited Sora just fine sometimes. Being overlooked meant that Sora had a better chance of learning things people didn't think he would understand. It also caused enemies to underestimate him.

With the knowledge that staying with Axel for now was his only option (the red head knew things Sora needed to know first and foremost; plus Sora was weakened at the moment) Sora settled down to sleep. The past few hours actions having tired him out.

In the living room Axel was staring at the guest room door with a contemplating expression across his face.

He'd have to watch his steps more carefully from now on; the brunette was definitely more observant than he appeared.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, Tseng," Cissnei, codenamed and commonly referred to as Shuriken, said slowly. "Ale has suddenly showed back up at Edge, in his dingy old shitty apartment, after almost two years of being MIA, out of the blue?"

"Elena saw him, Reno confirmed it," Tseng agreed.

"I see," Cissnei mumbled, glancing at Elena. "And we are to go and retrieve him?"

"Correct."

"He threatened to torch Reno's hair didn't he."

Tseng's lips twitched and Cissnei smirked.

"We'll go."

* * *

_**ONWARDS TO THE AUTHOR'S NOTE!**_

_Hihi! It's been a while since I updated, and I just finished this chapter. So in here I blatantly hinted at a RufusReno pairing-yes, it's true._

__

Now I don't know what I should explain or if I should leave this chapter as is...hmm...

Right, I suppose I'll give a little explanation.

You may find that in this chapter, versus chapter one, Axel's story has changed a bit. The reason why is before Axel gave a short brief explanation while now Axel found himself having to explain in more detail, and there were just some things he couldn't exclude from the story-especially since Sora had guessed that the currently nameless witch had messed around with his memories.

So Axel's story had to be changed a bit, and believe me Axel has noticed this issue.

Now you may also have noticed that Sora finds Axel's story not adding up exactly. This again is true. For this story to go in the direction of the challenge Sora is more observant; he just play's the idiot. I've stated this before I think.

_Yeah...I think I'll stop it there._

_**Update Note Update**__ So yeah. I've been sitting on this chapter because, well, I didn't think it fit so well but meh. It's okay I suppose. It'll do. And as a treat I __**may**__ post the following chapter. If it's done..._

_Yeah, Ta_

_-TK__  
__Twin Kats_


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